Pop, Chew, Swallow
by somethingsdont
Summary: CR friendship. Post episode for 1.06, Powerless. Sometimes, the simplest things in life could be found in a cup of grapes.


He was waiting outside the church for her after her AA meeting, sporting a pair of swanky shades, a cup of white grapes cradled in his hands.

Dani Reese groaned internally. She really wasn't in the mood for her partner's incessant articulations. Not today. Her head was still pounding from the alcohol two nights earlier, and while admitting powerlessness had been a huge step, she didn't feel much better. Maybe she shouldn't have expected this to be an instantaneous fix, but to her disappointment, it wasn't as liberating as everyone had told her it would be, only tiring, but maybe that was from the incident and not the meeting.

Silently, she hoped that it wasn't too late to slip away unnoticed, but it seemed she wasn't so lucky, because Charlie Crews spotted her, popped a grape into his mouth and strolled over.

He didn't say anything, merely slipped off his shades and trailed two and a half steps behind her. She could hear the sound of his jaw grinding against the grape, the soft pop as it undoubtedly cracked open in his mouth, the fleshy chews, finally the swift swallow. Repeat. Over and over again, and she was trying, really trying not to let it get to her.

_Pop, chew, __chew, __swa__llow. Pop, chew,__ chew__, sw__—_

"Crews, don't you have something better to do?" she snapped, spinning around so abruptly that he barely had the time to avoid crashing into her.

"Grape?" he asked, holding out the transparent plastic cup.

Dani rolled her eyes and turned her back to him again.

But Charlie wasn't so easy to deter, and he continued to follow her. "Did you know that a group of grapes is called a stem? Like a group of pineapples is called a prickle, and a group of apples is a fall." He paused thoughtfully. "Fall. The season of change. In order to change, one must fall," he mused.

Dani spun around again, but this time, Charlie preempted her movements and stopped in time. He smiled.

She sighed. "Why are you following me?"

"Am I? Or perhaps we have the same destination." He raised his eyebrows in emphasis.

"My destination is my car," she replied pointedly, annoyed.

"But in life," he commented calmly, "our destinations are all the same." He smiled slightly, looked up and squinted at the sun.

Dani's hand went to her forehead, and she pressed her temple. "Crews, my head still hurts from the vodka, and I just want to go home and get some sleep."

Charlie brought the cup to his lips and tilted, and Dani looked up just in time to watch the last grape roll along the inside of the cup and into his mouth. "Can I come?" he asked.

"Where? Home?" Dani cocked her head in confusion and furrowed her brows. "My home? That's where you want to go?"

Swallowing his grape, Charlie's eyes closed. "I want to go where there's absolute darkness. Just for a moment, so that when the light returns…" His eyes drifted open again, and he looked down at her. "It'll be the most beautiful sight I've ever seen."

Dani stared at him for a moment, held a straight face, because she wasn't entirely sure what he was up to and certainly wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of a reaction. "Okay, I'm leaving now," she finally declared, turning once more toward the direction of her car.

Charlie silently shadowed her for another sixty-seven steps, until she reached her car and went to unlock her door. He stopped her, his hand gentle around her wrist.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, her eyes flitting to his.

"Reese, you're not going to go home and sleep," he reasoned, withdrawing his arm.

"Yeah? Why not?"

He studied her for a minute. "Your house. Does it remind you of him?"

She frowned, and a billion witty retorts ran through her head, but the one she settled upon was neither witty, nor really a retort. "What are you talking about?"

His face softened. "You look like you haven't gotten any sleep in a while," he observed.

"Because I have a hangover," she replied pointedly, "and you're making it worse."

He took another moment before speaking again. "Does it feel like a prison?" he asked, gauging her reaction. "Just a little?"

Her eyes widened ever so slightly, but she quickly recovered and scowled. "What should I say to make you go away?" she asked dryly, turning to open her car door, attempt number two.

He stopped her again, his fingers a little more insistent this time. "The truth," he replied simply.

Dani sighed and clenched her jaw. "The _truth_," she emphasized, "is that I consumed enough alcohol to put my body into shock. I need sleep, and I need it now."

"So the logical course is to go behind the wheel," he remarked. He looked up at the sun again, still couldn't believe how incredible the rays felt against his skin. "Come on," he coaxed, looking back down and holding out his hand. "I'll drive you home."

Dani peered at his hand precariously. Her head was still pounding, but she found a quiet comfort in his offer. It was nice, friendly, very partner-esque, and despite appearances, she couldn't help but like the sound of that. Finally relenting, she relinquished her keys, dropping them into his open palm.

Charlie smiled and closed his fist around the keychain, then proceeded to unlock the car door. Pulling open the door, he found the button on the side that unlocked all the other doors, and motioned for her to climb into the passenger's seat.

Dani obliged, though a little reluctantly, and Charlie slid in as well, made sure that they were both buckled in before he pushed the key into the ignition. He dropped his plastic cup into one of the cup holders, which, as expected, elicited an eye-roll from her. As he pulled onto the street, her head dipped to the side to come to rest on the window, and her eyes closed. A reassuring stillness fell between them.

Two red lights later, Charlie broke the silence.

"You know, Reese, I was thinking…"

"This isn't going to be about grapes again, is it?" she mumbled lazily, her eyes fluttering.

He smiled. "No grapes."

She nodded slowly against the glass. "Go on."

He glanced at her briefly and changed what he had originally planned to say. "How was your meeting today?"

She groaned. "Giddy," she replied sarcastically. "We passed around a keg and played drinking games."

If he felt the need to respond, he suppressed it, and the ride finished as quietly as it had started. Soon, he was pulling up to her house, and after parking the car and turning off the engine, he glanced over at her, watched as she groped clumsily for the seatbelt buckle, her eyes still closed, and he couldn't help but smile.

Charlie slipped out of the car and walked around the car to the other side. Slowly, he opened the door and grinned in amusement as Dani's head bobbed unconsciously, then snapped up at the loss of the support.

"Crews," she admonished, squinting.

He waited for her to regain full awareness, then stood aside to let her exit the car. She stood up, shook her head and blinked the sleep from her eyes. He stood close enough for her to reach out to him if she needed the assistance, but she didn't, and that didn't surprise him one bit.

Dani walked ahead, her legs steady again, and arrived at her door first. Charlie caught up a moment later, spinning her keychain boastfully around his right index. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the keys from him. Then, her facial featured softened.

"How are you going to get home?" she asked, finding her keychain encircling her own finger. She frowned and quickly stuffed the whole thing into her pocket.

"Bus," he replied, his eyes following her keychain. "That's how I got to the church, anyway."

"You planned this," she accused, her eyes narrowing.

He didn't think that deserved a justification, apparently, because he smiled. "I thought you could use a friend."

"I'm fine," she replied, the exhaustion mixing in with a hint of indignation.

He nodded. "I know." He exhaled through his nose. "Fine people can use friends, too."

She watched him for a moment, tried to read him, but that only made her head ring, so she nodded once. "Thanks, Crews."

Charlie turned around to leave, and Dani took the keychain out of her pocket, started to open her door, but his voice cut through the humid air.

"Hey, Reese?" He paused and pulled his sunglasses out of his pocket, waited for her to pay attention. "Got any grapes at home?"

She rewarded him with an annoyed look and pushed open the door, leaving him alone on her front lawn. From her window, she saw him slip on his shades and watched until he disappeared around the corner.

But before heading to bed, Dani picked a grape out of her fruit bowl, rinsed it and plopped it into her mouth.

_Pop, chew, chew, swallow._


End file.
